Japanese Manga becoming popular, influencing Indian readers
Japanese manga has increasingly become popular among the Indian youth. Animation channels like Animax which are airing more Japanese cartoons are also helping.
THE INDIAN market, of late has suddenly seen a steep rise of readers of Japanese manga, in other words cartoons in print or comics. Many readers like reading Manga of their favourite anime characters. “Comics culture is very popular in Japan from a long time and now it has started to spread all over the world. After our market research, we found out that there are no Japanese comics in the market in India although there is so much demand,” says Meibo Ono, owner of a popular Comics Café in Bangalore which houses Japanese and American manga. “We also got to know that the younger generation, maybe because of the internet, is very fond of manga. Why they don’t have something which serves the demand in Bangalore is astonishing?”
Take the case of Naruto, a manga series (still running) about a boy who was born with supernatural powers and his adventures, which became popular as a manga since it was released in 1997 and was turned into an anime series. Fans from world over downloaded the telecasted episodes and saw it.
Selling over a 100 million copies in Japan in the past five years, the English version of Naruto’s Manga made its way to international market, including India.
Popular comic houses like Amar Chitra Katha claim to still hold ground among a large chunk of comic readers in India. But their stories more often are based on Indian mythological characters which impart moral education amongst the younger generations.
Comics based on Mahabharata, Ramayana and other characters like Birbal, Tenali Rama and Krishna have been here since long. But a silent dissent to the monotony of Indian comics market can be seen by the sheer fact of kids preferring to watch American and Japanese anime telecasted on TV rather than reading “Chandamama”.
“Yes, Indian mythology does have a mystical hold and is still read, but by whom? Mostly by Indians settled abroad”, smiles Thomas. “The Indian reader, however, wants something different. The spiked popularity of Japanese Manga is a proof to that.”
“Mangas make an interesting read and many of them carry stories which adults can relate to. People, like me, are very happy that Japanese Manga is reaching Indian market,” says Tarinee Prasad, 28, who is an animation lover and software engineer at Chennai.
But what do we attribute this sudden rise in the Manga’s popularity to? Meibo Ono answers,”I think there is definitely an increase in readership because more cartoon channels are showing Japanese cartoon characters. The publishing of most of the Mangas reaching India is done at Singapore. There are a lot of Indians in Singapore too.”
“Nowadays, the frequency of travel of people including the middle class has also increased, mostly to Southeast Asia. When travel increases, the culture exchange involuntarily increases,” she adds. The Bangalore Anime Club, a place where all the anime/Manga fans from Bangalore can meet, talk and share about their interests as claims the Club’s profile on a popular social networking website, holds a similar opinion.
Akshay, a software engineer and club member says,” We all know that Japanese anime is the break youth comic lovers in India needed. It’s got high action, it’s got adult themes and it has some really good humour.”
Interestingly, these anime clubs also want to promote local cartoon artists who draw using Manga as an art form.
“As an anime club we are also very serious about what we do. We have a clear objective of promoting Japanese anime and sub cultures in Bangalore. We also want to affiliate with the media industry and try promoting local cartoon sketch makers.”
Meenakshi Krishnamoorthy, cartoonist from Bangalore, is an artist who uses such art form. She has recently printed her series “Kinnari” which marries Indian mythology with Japanese manga art form in a popular comic website, a black and white monthly Indie comic magazine.
The present scenario might be bleak but future does seem bright to the Manga readers as well as sellers in India. The most enviable of their advantages against all odds is that they catch many of their fans quite young.
“I love Naruto and I watch it on my computer almost every Sunday. I had started watching it 2 years ago and it’s never boring,” says Ayush, a 13 year old fan of anime like Naruto, One Piece and Bleach.
“The printed comic of his favourite cartoons is very difficult to get here. We buy it whenever we visit Singapore,” says Anita, Ayush’s mother.
Free manga downloads of popular anime is illegal as per the Copyright Act and has, undoubtedly, made companies like Dark Horse / Viz unhappy. But the fact that these sites helped bring many anime to a common platform and brought them popularity cannot be ignored.
Shonen manga like that of Naruto is the most popular form of Manga internationally. India is not an exception. This type of Manga usually targets men and young boys and highlights extreme behaviour featuring main male characters.
Meibo Ono makes a point about its popularity in India, “Japanese, on the whole, like reading something light and interesting while travelling in trains. They travel a lot in a day. And Shonen Manga is usually full of humour and simple large graphics making it easy for the eye.”
In India though, he says, it’s a different story. Most buyers in India have watched the anime of some popular Shonen series online already and want to buy their Manga.
Looks like if Indian comic houses don't pull up their socks for growing competition, it won't be long before Naruto replaces Suppandi.
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